Unable to See Through One Egg's Shell At All

[Pigeony]

So I've incubating eggs for a while now, both from other people's flocks and my own. I've never encountered this before. I have an egg in the incubator that is completely unable to be seen through. When I try to candle it, the entire egg is pitch black, you can't even see the air cell. It's been this way since I first candled on day 3. It's not even that dark of an egg, it's a small, light green egg. The hen is a relatively new layer. Other eggs from this hen are sort of difficult to see through compared to lighter tan and white eggs laid by other hens, but they are nowhere near as impossible as this egg. It just seems odd. I've left it in the incubator, the batch is set to hatch in a little under a week, but has anyone experienced something like this? Is this egg rotten? It doesn't smell and it was placed in the incubator day after it was laid. I can't really take a picture, because as I've said, you see nothing but black when candling.

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

The shell on the egg must be thicker than others, and colored eggs (specifically green and dark brown) are highly pigmented even though they may not look like they do. That would cause you to be unable to see threw the egg. There's likely nothing at all wrong with the egg or the possible chick inside.

 

[B_Chickle01]

So I've incubating eggs for a while now, both from other people's flocks and my own. I've never encountered this before. I have an egg in the incubator that is completely unable to be seen through. When I try to candle it, the entire egg is pitch black, you can't even see the air cell. It's been this way since I first candled on day 3. It's not even that dark of an egg, it's a small, light green egg. The hen is a relatively new layer. Other eggs from this hen are sort of difficult to see through compared to lighter tan and white eggs laid by other hens, but they are nowhere near as impossible as this egg. It just seems odd. I've left it in the incubator, the batch is set to hatch in a little under a week, but has anyone experienced something like this? Is this egg rotten? It doesn't smell and it was placed in the incubator day after it was laid. I can't really take a picture, because as I've said, you see nothing but black when candling.

I know this thread is older; however, I figured for future reference, in the event someone stumbles upon it like I did, I have an EE, and her eggs are very difficult to see through. I learned this trick with a toilet paper roll (cardboard tube): placing it to fit around the flashlight and then placing the egg at the top somehow helps. I'm not quite sure if it’s because it’s like tunneling the light all directly upward to the egg (if that makes sense). I don't know; I was just so thankful I could finally see because it was so stressful trying to get a good look at her eggs. Additionally, other people will use this other trick with a bowl of water and placing the egg in there, and once it stops bobbing from placing it in, it will roll from the chick moving, one that’s obviously further along development-wise, but I was too nervous to do that.

 

[Pigeony]

I know this thread is older; however, I figured for future reference, in the event someone stumbles upon it like I did, I have an EE, and her eggs are very difficult to see through. I learned this trick with a toilet paper roll (cardboard tube): placing it to fit around the flashlight and then placing the egg at the top somehow helps. I'm not quite sure if it’s because it’s like tunneling the light all directly upward to the egg (if that makes sense). I don't know; I was just so thankful I could finally see because it was so stressful trying to get a good look at her eggs. Additionally, other people will use this other trick with a bowl of water and placing the egg in there, and once it stops bobbing from placing it in, it will roll from the chick moving, one that’s obviously further along development-wise, but I was too nervous to do that.

So as an update: this egg did have a particularly thick shell. But the real problem was, that despite being from my own flock and never having been shaken or traveled, the aircell was in the wrong place. It was on the side nearer to the pointed end of the egg. The egg likely had issues, it developed to a couple days before lockdown then died. I never saw through it until I was inspecting it after others hatched during lockdown and did an eggtopsy.